China lauds new national heroes

Page Tools

Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, two former fighter pilots, are
destined to become China's latest national heroes after flying the
country's second manned spacecraft into orbit.

Fei, 40, arguably China's most elite pilot, impressed his peers
in 1992 when he successfully made an emergency landing when his jet
was short of fuel during a test flight.

"His courage, skill and cool and calm mindset won him a special
grade in piloting at the age of 32," Xinhua news agency said.

Fei was recruited as a trainee by China's air force while still
at high school in 1982 and graduated two years later with excellent
marks, it said.

In January 1998, he was selected out of more than 1,500 pilots
as a member of the astronaut brigade of the People's Liberation
Army, together with Yang Liwei, who in 2003 became China's first
man in space when he orbited the earth 14 times during a 21-hour
mission.

Fei was on the short list of five candidates who underwent final
intensive training for that mission - Shenzhou V.

His partner on Shenzhou VI Nie Haisheng, 41, was among the three
finalists for the historic flight two years ago that put China
alongside the United States and former Soviet Union as the only
countries to send a man into space.

Nie was born into an impoverished rural family in central
China's Hubei province and struggled through school because his
family could barely afford his tuition fees, Xinhua quoted his
primary school teacher as saying.

Nie was described by Yang Liwei as a dauntless and prudent
man.

"He doesn't talk much. He is a hard-working and cooperative
guy," Yang said.

Nie entered the flight training school of the Chinese air force
in 1982 and he too was commended for his courage when he averted a
potential air disaster by risking his life to safely land a plane
in 1989.

Having fulfilled a childhood dream to fly, Nie said the hardest
part of fulfilling his dream to go into space was overcoming his
wife's fears for his safety.

"I did a hell of a lot of talking to her and helped her more
often with housework to win her over," Nie said, according to
Xinhua.

The two astronauts apparently have very different personalities
- Fei being the extrovert and Nie being the introvert - although
they said they are "happy together."

Yang achieved instant celebrity as China's first man in space,
receiving rock star treatment as the nation and its people brimmed
with pride and patriotism.

China paraded him overseas and he met the likes of UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan.

On their return to earth in five days, Fei and Nie will no doubt
face similar adulation, going into China's history as national
heroes who propelled the country into a new age of space
discovery.